Prevalence and Associated Factors of Congenital Heart Disease in Cleft Lip and Palate Patients at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital

Background: The prevalence of congenital heart disease in patients with cleft lip and palate varies from place to place. There is a paucity of such studies in our region. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors for congenital heart defects (CHD) in children with oral clefts at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital

Methodology: This was a retrospective study of patients with cleft lip and palate who had echocardiography in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) from April 2012 to April 2022. Data were collected from the patient’s case notes and the echocardiography registry in the pediatric cardiology unit of the same hospital. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were performed. In inferential statistics, the association between the prevalence of CHD and the studied variables was performed with the Chi-square test. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 21.

Results: A total of 225 patients comprising 131 females and 94 males were recruited. The age range was 3 days to 10 years with a median age of 0.6 years. Of the 225 patients, 24(10.7%) had CHD giving a prevalence of 10.7 %. The most common CHDs were atrial septal defect 12(5.33%) and ventricular septal defect 4(1.78%). The prevalence of CHD was significantly (p= 0.02) higher in the patients living outside the study environment compared to those within the study location, and in those with isolated cleft palate (p=0.03) compared to other types of orofacial cleft.

Conclusions: The prevalence of CHD is relatively high among cleft lip and palate patients. The residential location and the type of orofacial cleft were associated with higher prevalence in this study.